Parasha Tazria

par le Rav Raphaël Benizri

Parasha Tazria (תזריע) — Vayikra 12:1 – 13:59. Read on Shabbat, April 10, 2027.

Summary of Parasha Tazria

The parasha opens with the laws concerning a woman who has given birth: she undergoes a period of impurity, followed by a period of purification, whose length differs depending on whether she has given birth to a boy or a girl. On the eighth day, the boy is circumcised. At the end of the period of purification, she brings an olah offering and a chatat; if her means are limited, she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons. The Torah then sets out in detail the laws of tzaraat, an affliction that appears on the skin. A person with a suspicious mark is brought to the kohen, who examines it: he looks in particular at the color of the mark, the presence of white hairs and the spread of the lesion. Depending on the case, the kohen declares the person pure or impure, or places him in isolation for seven days, sometimes renewed, before a further examination. The various cases are described: white marks, the boil, the burn, an affliction of the head or beard, and baldness. The person declared impure wears torn garments, leaves his hair unbound, covers himself up to his lip, cries out “Impure, impure!” and dwells alone, outside the camp. The parasha ends with the tzaraat of garments of wool, linen or leather, with rules for examining, washing or destroying them.